Capcom Re-Evaluating Their On-Disc DLC Policy

Is Capcom finally attempting to clean up their act when it comes to DLC?

Capcom has received a lot of flak from critics and consumers alike in regards to the company’s on-disc DLC policy. The company has been known to include downloadable content on retail discs, yet makes the content restricted until you fork over extra money to unlock it down the road.

It’s a business practice that, according to Capcom, makes sense to obtain a level of consistency for multiplayer components, which requires players have the same content on their systems in order to group up online. But to consumers, this business tactic feels like a slap in the face. Understandably, these people feel their $60 earns them all the content upfront, especially when it’s finished before the game even launches.

While Capcom has been rather stubborn to the whole kerfuffle for months now, it seems like the company might be making a turn around, although, it won’t happen anytime soon.

Over at the Capcom Unity forums, Christian Svensson, senior VP of planning and business development, wrote up a post to clear the air and lie out the future of on-disc DLC at Capcom. Svensson says the company is re-evaluating how they do downloadable content, although potential changes will not take affect until after the current cycle of titles have shipped. This means games already deep into development will not have their post-launch, on-disc DLC plans changed. One such title Svensson mentions is Dragon’s Dogma, which will have on-disc DLC.

“We would like to assure you that we have been listening to your comments and as such have begun the process of re-evaluating how such additional game content is delivered in the future, said Svensson. “As this process has only just commenced in the past month or so, there will be some titles, where development began some time ago and that are scheduled for release in the coming months, for which we are unable to make changes to the way some of their post release content is delivered.

“One such title is Dragon’s Dogma, where the decision to include some additional (but not all planned additional) game content for the game on disc was made at the beginning of the game’s development cycle as at the time this was determined to be the most efficient way of ensuring certain content was made available.”

Svensson ends his post by reiterating the fans are being listened to. “Just wanted people to know in advance the whys, wherefores and where we’re going in the future,” mentions Svensson.

Could this signal an about-face for one of the industry’s biggest “villains?” In recent years, Capcom, along with EA and Activision, have been labeled industry killers due to their cutthroat, oftentimes shady business tactics. Maybe this is a sign that Capcom is trying to clean up its act and image. If that is the case, then I’m sure fans will gladly welcome it.

Just keep in mind that change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s going to take a lot of scrubbing to clean Capcom’s dirty hands. But Svensson’s post to create a little bit of transparency between the company and their fans is definitely a solid start.